Cattle drive to usher in rodeo season on Saturday

“God, I love Texas. Where else will you see a herd of cattle in the street in front of a marquee for the symphony?”

 Stefanie, blog comment from last year

Love rodeo season. Love it. Unfortunately, downtown doesn’t get much of the action. Freeman Coliseum and its grounds have been home to the San Antonio Stock Show & Rodeo since they both debuted to much jubilee Feb. 17, 1950.

This year, downtown gets a little taste when 33 Texas longhorns are set to walk down Houston Street on Saturday to help ring in the rodeo season. The cattle drive is an official rodeo event and has been active three consecutive years.

In modern times, cattle drives have occurred on Houston Street over the years. In January 1999, some 50 Texas longhorns were herded down Houston Street to commemorate the rodeo’s 50th anniversary, according to Express-News archives. Obviously, you can imagine cattle being herded down these streets when the streets were much thinner and unpaved.

The cattle drive begins at 11 a.m. Saturday.

The overall event is being billed as the Houston Street Two-Step, the cows being Step One. After the drive, shops and restaurants along Houston Street will offer discounts during the first Houston Street Stroll. For example, Acenar Restaurant will offer $5 shrimp nachos, while gift shop Pink Giraffe will offer a 10 percent discount. “Passports” will be handed out, and those who get stamped at the various businesses will be eligible for prizes that include rodeo tickets.

The Houston Street Stroll ends at 5 p.m. Visit the Downtown Alliance’s Web site for all participating businesses and the deals they plan on offering.

See some of the photos from last year’s cattle drive, which was followed by the now-defunct Houston Street Fair.